Kiwi Goes Beyond Shine
In Effort to Step Up Sales

For a century, Kiwi shoe polish remained pretty much the same -- just over one ounce of colored wax in a palm-size tin embossed with the image of a kiwi bird.

But about two years ago, Sara Lee Corp., whose predecessor company, Consolidated Foods Corp., acquired the brand in 1984, interviewed 3,500 people in eight countries about their shoe-care needs. What it learned was "a shocker," says Kiwi President Paco Casa: People don't care nearly as much about the shine on their shoes as they do about how fresh and...